


Altar

by squirrel_loves_wings



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Castiel's True Form, Dean Hates Witches, First Kiss, M/M, Mild Gore, Reverse Big Bang Challenge, True Forms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-05-31 16:37:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6477796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squirrel_loves_wings/pseuds/squirrel_loves_wings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Dean have to save Cas from a witch who's trying to steal his grace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Altar

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the [Destiel Reverse Bang](http://destielrb.livejournal.com/). It's a week late, but I wanted to get it up because the art I stepped in to pinch hit for was just lovely and deserves to be seen! Hopefully my story is up to snuff! And I hope it's at least a little bit of what the artist wanted! :) 
> 
> [You can see the art here!](http://imgur.com/XiX8jh6) I'll also embed it into the story.

_ Witches_. Dean hates witches most of all. Always spewing their frigging bodily fluids everywhere and making hex bags with the nastiest bits of nasty things. And this witch… Well, Dean's gun's loaded with witch-killing bullets and he's looking forward to putting a couple through her head, because this skank had taken Cas.

"You're sure they're in there," Dean asks for the fifth time and Sam finally slaps the book in his lap shut.

"Yeah, Dean, I'm sure."

"Great," Dean snaps. "So remind me why we're still sitting out here, then?"

"Because the ingredients in that hex bag we found in Cas' motel room…" He trails off and opens the book again, shaking his head. "There's something about the ingredients that's bugging me."

"Yeah, well, figure it out after we get Cas back. Hell, he can probably even help you out with it. So come on." He smacks Sam on the shoulder. "Time to get this show on the road."

"Dean, wait," Sam pleads, but Dean is already out of the Impala. He shoves the book aside and scrambles to catch up with his brother. "Don't you think we should figure this out before we go in there?" Dean hesitates briefly and Sam presses his advantage. "Cas is an  _ angel_, man. This isn't some run of the mill witch."

"Yeah, I got that. But we ain't met one yet that can survive one of these through the head." He holds up his gun, eyes scanning the open space around the building they were approaching.

"Yeah, y'know we've only ever actually killed one witch with the bullets, but Dean," Sam starts but Dean cuts him off.

"Are you gonna help me with this or not? Because all I know is that some bitch witch has got Cas in there and a witch with that kind of juice potentially under her control can only spell bad fucking news for us. So are you ready to go in there or do you need to jaw about it some more?"

Sam's jaw clenches, his lips pressed down to a thin line, and he clearly wants to say more but he just nods and pulls his gun out of his belt. "Fine. We… Fine."

"Good," Dean agrees with a nod and quickly covers the rest of the distance to the abandoned factory where Cas is being held.  _ Fucking monsters and their fucking love of abandoned fucking factories_, Dean thinks. "Alright." He has his hand on the doorknob and is taking this last moment to gather himself together, to focus on his twin goals of killing the witch and saving Cas. He can't let anything distract him from that. Before he can take a breath to tell Sam what they were going to do, his brother speaks up.

"No. I see what you're thinking and no. No, Dean," he says again when Dean shoots him an irritated look. "You're going to tell me that we get inside and split up to find Cas and whoever finds her first ices the witch." Dean scowls, irritated and embarrassed, because that's exactly what he'd been going to say, right down to the word 'ices.' "But look, you're not going to give me time to figure out what the ingredients in that hex bag are about and fine, you're right, we need to get Cas out of the witch's hands as soon as possible. But in that case we're sticking together so we can figure out anything we come across together."

The muscle in Dean's jaw pulses as he regards Sam. He wants to argue, partly on principle, partly because splitting up practically guaranteed they'd find the witch quicker and that was deeply appealing. Because the knowledge that this bitch has Cas is crawling under his skin, snapping and crackling like static electricity. The sensation is hot and uncomfortable. 

"Fine, but you don't get to be smug about it," Dean growls and Sam smirks.

"No, of course not." Dean knows that Sam is going to be smug about this for as long as possible. With a scowl, Dean flings open the main door. It's dark and eerily quiet. Dean gestures silently and Sam follows him down the main corridor, Dean covering the rooms on one side while Sam takes the other. They've cleared the first floor without finding anything, and Dean's about to head down to the basement when Sam stops him. 

"I think we should head upstairs. It's a full moon tonight," Sam whispers and Dean nods. 

"Good thinking. When's moonrise?" Sam gives him a look and Dean frowns. "Yeah fine, just stow the bitch face for later. Come on."

About halfway up the metal staircase, chanting begins. It's not Latin, which likely means it's older and nastier and Dean puts on as much speed as he can without making a racket and announcing their presence.

The staircase opens onto a big open room, what looks like used to be a production floor, and there's a big gaping hole in the ceiling. The moon is just starting to edge into view. Dean gestures again to Sam, telling him the plan silently and Sam nods before taking off across the floor in a crouch, staying hidden behind rusted machinery. Dean waits until Sam has reached the opposite side of the room and then starts forward, edging toward the place that's directly under the hole in the ceiling.

Dean's not sure what he's expecting, but it's not this. It's not Cas stripped bare and lying apparently unrestrained on an altar. It's not his arms hanging limply off the sides, blood flowing freely from sigils carved into the flesh and running down his arms to drip from the tips of his fingers. Dean's jaw clenches at the sight and his throat tightens. He's seen his family hurt too often, is too familiar with the sounds of their pain.

[](http://imgur.com/XiX8jh6)

As if on cue, Cas groans, neck arching as his head presses back against the altar. The witch incants a few more syllables and the sigils she carved into Cas start to glow blue white and Dean realizes that the carvings run over Cas' ribs, his thighs and shins. Cas is panting now, his body tense and straining as the witch continues the ritual, and his grace burns brighter through the sigils until it starts to leak out of him, gathering above him like a cloud.

The witch lifts her arms just as the moon reaches the right angle and shines down onto the altar. Alone, Cas' grace was near blinding, but when the moonlight hits it, it turns _incandescent_ and Dean has to look away for a moment. Cas' truncated scream draws his attention back and he sees that Cas' body is limp and the sigils are no longer glowing. Above him, his grace… Dean raises from his crouch without conscious thought, completely awed by what he's seeing.

Above the altar Cas' grace is swirling and flowing as though caught in eddies of wind. The witch is practically screaming now, but Cas' grace curls away from her and grows and spreads until Dean recognizes the shape of wings. They unfurl until they fill the width of the factory. Gradually, Dean sees a body form, a head and long tail feathers. Dean is reminded of a phoenix, and it's so beautiful that he is utterly transfixed.

The phoenix is arching, straining toward the sky, but there's a tendril of grace connecting it to the witch, and it can't escape. Dean tears his eyes from the awe-inspiring sight of Cas' grace taken form and turns to look at the witch. He can see that she has sigils carved into the palms of her hands and that they're starting to glow with the power of Cas' grace.

Dean lifts his gun and points it at the witch. He knows he can't let her absorb Cas' grace.

"Hey, Grandmama!" She looks at him and her eyes are glowing faintly, too. She's killing Cas, absorbing his essence and that thought revolts Dean so thoroughly that he fires two bullets before he registers his finger squeezing the trigger. The witch turns toward him, and in a flash of grace, the bullets stop and fall harmlessly to the floor. Dean's about to fire again, but she flicks her hand at him and he's hit in the chest with something that drives him back. He flies and hits the far wall.

When he hits the ground, he can't breathe. Whatever hit him _hurts_. It's burning through his veins, hot and cold at the same time, and he can't make anything work right. He tries to reach for his gun, shoot the bitch, but his body just curls in on itself in pain. He recognizes the hot/cold feel of Cas' grace from all the times he's been healed by it, but this searing pain is new, something from the witch.

He hears Sam yell his name, wants to scream at him to watch out, but his body's still not under his control and it's just getting worse. He feels like all his internal organs are being squeezed and when his mouth falls open, blood pours out.

There's another bright flash of light and he prays that it missed Sammy, hopes that he's safe and will be able to kill this fucking bitch and save Cas. Dean's body convulses again and he can't believe that this is it, that _this_ is how he's going to die - at the hands of a god damn witch using Cas' grace. He wants to scream his rage, but his throat is paralyzed, too, until suddenly it's not. Instead of screaming, though, he gasps and coughs, spraying blood all over the floor. He takes half a second to breathe and realize that his body's back under his control and then scrambles to his feet, gun in hand.

_Shit_ , everything still hurts, but he's got to check on Sammy, save Cas. He spits out another gob of blood and raises his gun, ready to shoot, but the witch is down and Sam is standing there staring up at the ceiling. Dean turns to look and sees Cas' grace.  His arm drops slowly as he stares at it. It's stretched beyond the roof of this place, rising into the night sky, graceful and gorgeous.

_ Just like Cas_, Dean thinks absently. He's so caught up in looking at the magnificent bird made of grace that he almost doesn't hear the gravelly voice calling out to him.

"Dean." Cas' eyes are barely open and his body is still limp and dripping blood as Dean hurries over to him.

"Jesus man, I thought you'd really bought it that time," Dean says as he tucks his gun into his belt.

"Will soon," Cas manages. "Sigils. Break." At Dean's confused look Cas licks his lips and swallows. "Cut sigils. Break."

Dean understands and shakes his head. "I cut you any more, you're going to lose more blood." Dean presses his palm to Cas' cheek. "And you've already lost too much."

Cas draws his eyebrows down. "Don't need blood. Need grace.  _ Cut_."

"Fuck," Dean breathes, digging into his pocket with his free hand to get to his knife. He retrieves it and flips out the blade. "Is one enough?"

Cas looks incredibly tired. "All." His gaze shifts up to the sky above them. " _Hurry_."

Dean looks up and sees that the phoenix has grown larger. It's almost entirely out of the warehouse now, but Dean can see that its glow has grown dimmer.

"Dean?" Sam is standing there looking confused, like he thought killing the witch would automatically send Cas' grace back where it belonged. Dean had been working under the same assumption, but now…

"Help me, Sam. We gotta…" He swallows and looks down at Cas. He realized his palm his still pressed to Cas' cheek and his thumb his brushing Cas' cheekbone. He pulls away and looks back at Sam, embarrassed but determined to act as if nothing happened. "We have to break these sigils."

Sam hurries to the other side of the altar. "What do you mean? We have to cut through them?" Dean nods and Sam doesn't hesitate to take out his knife. He looks at Cas and says, "Hang on, man," and immediately starts to slice the knife through the sigils running down Cas' biceps. Cas' eyes never leave Dean's but they do cloud over with pain as Sam cuts and he reaches for Dean. Without thinking, Dean takes his hand, their thumbs hooking as their fingers wrap around each other's wrist.

"Dean, come on," Sam says, already moving on the to sigils on Cas' ribs and Dean squeezes Cas' hand harder, but Cas just nods.

"Please."

Dean takes a steadying breath and nods before putting the blade of his knife to Cas' skin. He watches it part as he draws the blade down Cas' biceps. He shifts so he can break the marks on Cas' ribs and then reaches more awkwardly to cut through the marks on Cas' thigh. He doesn't want to let go of Cas' hand, but he can't reach the sigils on his shin without letting go. He looks back at Cas and Cas squeezes harder and Dean can see fear in his eyes. He looks up and sees that the phoenix is enormous now, almost like wisps of clouds against the dark sky, and fear shoots through him. Cas hasn't said it, but Dean knows that if the phoenix loses its coherence, Cas will die.

"I've got it," Sam says and Dean looks back down, but not at Sam. He looks at Cas' tired eyes and is suddenly filled with the realization that he doesn't want to lose Cas. He desperately doesn't want to lose this… Dean's mind scrabbles for a word before settling almost simultaneously on angel/being/man.

He reaches up and pushes Cas' hair back from his brow and whispers, "Hang on, Cas."

A second later, Sam must finish cutting the last sigil because suddenly Cas' grace is rushing back into him and Dean is falling to his knees, his hand still clutched in Cas'. The hot/cold feeling of grace is pressing against Dean's palm and it hurts, but differently from how it hurt when the witch used it. This hurt is the buzz of electricity, a familiar sensation turned up to an unbearable level, but Dean isn't going to let go of Cas' hand, isn't going to pull away. So he grips tighter and grinds his teeth and hangs on for dear life.

"Dean! Hey, Dean!"

Dean blinks and turns to look at his brother as he realizes the pain is gone. He blinks again and looks up at Cas on the altar. As he watches, all the lines carved into his skin begin to heal. He looks back to Sam.

"The bird. The phoenix," he asks and Sam looks confused. "His grace, man. Come on. What happened to it?" He's pissed that Sam's not answering him right away.

"It's restored, Dean. You and Sam were in time." Sam and Dean both swivel their heads up to look at Cas as he sits up. His body is still smeared with blood, but the carvings in his skin have all healed.

"How the hell did she get the drop on you?" Dean asks as he rises to standing. He's still holding Cas' hand.

"She must have used a spell to render me unconscious," he says and Sam nods.

"There was a hex bag in your room. I snapped a picture of the ingredients before we burned it," Sam says. 

"Why didn't burning it release you?" Dean asks.

"Likely she had already carved the sigils on both of us, binding me to her. She was extremely powerful. But now I would like to put on my clothes and leave this place."

Dean jerks away like he's been burned and drops Cas' hand. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan."

Sam shoots Dean another look as Cas stumbles away from the altar. _Help him_ , he mouths and Dean looks at Cas' back pointedly before mouthing back, _He's naked!_

Sam scowls and goes to put a hand under Cas' elbow. Cas sags against him slightly and sighs, "Thank you, Sam."

Dean feels like a total heel, but going to help now would be pointless since Sam is already handing Cas his boxers, so he turns toward the witch's body and thinks about dragging it outside to burn it. He's just standing there, staring down at the witch's body, but what he's seeing is Cas' body, limp and bloody on the altar. He's seeing the pain in Cas' eyes. For a second he can't catch his breath, the realization of what he'd felt when he thought Cas was going to die hitting him like a freight train.

_ Holy shit,_ he thinks. _Holy shit, holy shit._

He turns and looks at where Cas is standing with Sam. He's mostly dressed now, currently buttoning up his shirt, and Dean doesn't know what to do. He's got this fucking epiphany rattling around in his head and he's still feeling a little overwhelmed at how goddamn  _ glorious_ Cas' grace had looked soaring above them and this wasn't anything he ever thought he would actually have to  _deal_ with. He's spent a long time happily ignoring what Cas means to him, but he also knows that it'd been getting harder and harder to do. But he's not ready for this. He is absolutely, one hundred percent not ready.

"I'm gonna go grab some gas to burn this bitch," he says and then basically runs away. His mind is churning as he takes the stairs down two at a time, alternating between,  _ Jesus, I'm in love with Cas,_ and, _No fucking way am I thinking about this right now._

When he gets back to the production floor, he makes a beeline for the body, not looking over at where Cas and Sam are still standing. With single minded determination, he douses her body in gasoline and then steps back, making a trail with the gas. It's not until he begins patting down his pockets that he realizes he doesn't have a lighter or matches on him.

"I got it," Sam says coming up beside him and lighting a book of matches. He lets it drop and they watch the flame chase the line of gas to the witch's body and engulfs it.

_ Good fucking riddance_, Dean thinks and only barely resists flipping the flaming body the bird.

"How about we get outta here?" He looks at Cas who is staring at the body. _Say something supportive, dumbass,_ he thinks but he's still all _Yes! No!_ inside and he's not used to feeling quite this conflicted about things. He claps Cas on the shoulder and asks, "You doing okay, buddy?"

Cas turns his gaze to Dean and a barely there smile tugs at his lips. It's an expression Dean is so familiar with that it's like a punch to the gut, because now he can see all the affection in that look, the patience.

"I'll be fine, but leaving sounds like an excellent idea."

They leave the witch's body and the abandoned warehouse behind and drive back to town. The silence in the Impala is oppressive, so Dean flicks on the radio, turning it up to ear shattering levels when he hears Steppenwolf. They endure that for several miles until Sam finally leans forward and turns the volume down.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving," he says, the wind from the open window whipping his hair around his face.

Dean scowls at Sam's hair - two minutes with clippers is all he needs - but agrees. Now that the adrenaline is wearing off, he's famished. They finally find a place that's open all night and looks pretty promising in the bacon cheeseburger department and pretty sad in the rabbit food department. Sam's hungry enough to agree to it and when Dean parks, he looks at his brother and kind of jerks his chin toward the diner. Sam's brow draws down slightly and he shoots a glance at Cas who sits oblivious in the back seat.

"Uh, I'll go grab us a table," he says finally and leaves as fast as he can.

Dean gets out of the car, but doesn't head to the diner. Instead he leans against the door and shoves his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he waits for Cas to get out. He's still all _Yes! No!_ inside, but he wants that _Yes!_ He wants to recapture the feeling he had when Cas was looking at him like he was the only thing in all existence that mattered and his palm was hot against his own. He shivers a little at that because god yes he wants it so fucking bad and he's fucking terrified.

"Dean?" Cas asks, getting out of the car. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Dean nods. "Yeah, I'm fine." He scuffs a foot and then stops because he's not twelve. "So, that witch was something."

And Cas, bless his oblivious little heart, doesn't even bat an eyelash at Dean's terrible non sequitur. "She had a great deal of power. Likely from a demon deal or we would have encountered her sooner."

"Think she was after your grace as a way to get out of the deal?"

Cas looks out to the dark, deserted road. "I don't know. I doubt it would have worked in any case. She could have bound my grace to her, but she was not an appropriate vessel. She would have been dead within a month."

"Damn," Dean breathes. "Guess she wasn't banking on that."

Awkward silence descends then, and Dean isn't sure what to say or how to say it, but Cas speaks up first.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Course." Dean's curiosity is piqued.

"When my grace was being gathered by the witch's spell… What did you see?"

Dean blinks a few times because this isn't at all what he expected. He remembers Cas' grace unfurling and spreading and how it was glowing and stunning and filled him with a sense of wonder he can maybe vaguely remember from when he was a little boy watching fireworks with his mom and dad. Actually saying any of that out loud, though, isn't going to happen, so he takes the coward's route and says, "A bird."

To his surprise, Cas' eyes go soft and his whole face relaxes into this happy look. "Do you remember when I told you that certain people could hear my true voice?" Dean nods and his heart starts thumping harder in his chest. "There are also people who can perceive my…" He pauses to find the right word. "Essence," he says finally and now Dean's heart's going double time, but he smirks to hide it.

"I gotta say, it did look a little like _essence._ " Oh god, why is he making jizz jokes? And Cas actually looks like he gets it because his expression closes up a little bit and Dean wonders frantically if Metatron included romance novels in the pop culture he downloaded to Cas. _Fix this_ , he yells at himself because he knows this is _a moment_ and if he's not careful, it's going to pass and he knows he'll never have the goddamn courage to bring it up again. "It was beautiful," he blurts and immediately feels heat rush to his cheeks.

"I'm glad you think so." Cas takes a step closer and now Dean's sure he must be in heart attack territory. He's still leaning against the car, too, so now Cas is slightly taller than him. "Sam couldn't see it."

"What?"

"For him my grace was a large, amorphous cloud."

Dean studies Cas' face and his insides are basically on board with _Yes! Yes! Yes!_ but this is foreign territory and he's so scared. But fear has never stopped Dean Winchester before, so he takes his hands out of his pockets and rests one on Cas' arm.

"I'm really glad you're okay," he says with as much sincerity as possible.

That small smile pulls at Cas' lips again. "Thanks to you and Sam."

Dean squeezes his arm a little and gathers every ounce of courage he has. "You… you know you're important to me, right?"

"Yes, Dean," Cas says and Dean's rejoicing because that was actually  _easy_ , but then Cas says, "We have fought together for a long time."

"No," he says, because that's not what he meant at all. "I mean yeah, but that's not what I meant. I meant that I… I care about you. A lot. More than I realized, and when I saw your grace, it was… it was… I don't even have a word for it. But I just knew I couldn't lose you and that I…"

He can't actually get the words out, is already a little alarmed by how much he's said, but Cas reaches out and trails his fingers along Dean's jaw. Dean swallows because he wants so much more. He tugs on Cas' arm tentatively and Cas moves closer and Dean leans up and then they're kissing. Cas moans softly and it's the most amazing sound Dean's heard in his life. He shifts against the car so he can pull Cas closer, puts his free hand on the back of Cas' neck and pushes his fingers into his hair. He feels Cas' hands on his waist, underneath his jacket, and is a little shocked at how hot they are. And then Cas shifts one hand so it's against Dean's back, the other still curled around Dean's hip, and pulls them more tightly together. Dean moans because this is what he wanted. _Has_ wanted for so long, even though he wasn't willing to admit it.

When the kiss ends, they don't break apart, just stand there with their arms around one another, breathing each other's air, and Dean can't quite believe it.

"I'm so glad you're safe," he says with more emotion than he means to. But he can't stop his mind playing through all the times Cas has died, all the near misses, and eventually their luck is going to run out. His fingers tighten slightly on the back of Cas' neck.

"Me too," Cas agrees and coaxes Dean back into another kiss. "We shouldn't keep Sam waiting," he says when it ends and Dean nods.

"He probably already thinks we're naked in the backseat," Dean laughs then gets a mischievous look in his eye. Cas doesn't complain when Dean removes his tie or undoes a button of his shirt, but he does demand another kiss when Dean's fingers start messing up his hair.

"Am I disheveled enough to cause Sam discomfort?" Cas asks knowingly and Dean rumples his own hair.

"Yeah, it'll do." He briefly considers sucking a hickey into Cas' neck, but decides against it. He wants to wait and mark up Cas' skin when they're alone in his room. He wants to hear Cas moan while he does it.

He shakes his head to clear that image and then smiles at Cas. This angel who has been at his side through so much, good and bad, and he can't believe how sentimental and sappy he feels. But Cas has got that look in his eyes, like Dean hung the moon and stars, and it's hard for Dean to tear his eyes away.

"Come on," he says, hooking his fingers briefly into the front of Cas' pants to tug him forward. "I'm starving."

When they sit down across from Sam, Dean watches him take in their appearance with a growing realization before looking back down at the menu. Sam is smiling and shaking his head and Cas' thigh is pressed against his and Dean has this warm feeling in his chest. _Happy,_ he realizes with amazement. _I'm happy. _

**Author's Note:**

> In case you don't get the reference of Dean calling the witch [Grandmama](http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/8/83/Villain_Grandmama_Addams_a_la_Edith_Marie_Blossom_MacDonald.png/revision/latest?cb=20130201103347). She was grandma to Wednesday and Pugsley Addams on the Addams Family.


End file.
